ABBOTTSTOWN, PA 6/30/2018 – In one of the best eight-minute shows a racing fan could ask for, Danny Dietrich fought off a Lance Dewease last-lap, last turn slider and out-raced him to the finish line to win the 19th Annual Kevin Gobrecht Memomrial on Night 2 of Pennsylvania Speedweek action at Lincoln Speedway Saturday night.

“Shout out to that guy there,” said Dietrich about Dewease following his emotional wing-dance in victory lane. “This feels good. I think you’re going to see a lot of good things between the 69K (Dewease) and 48 (Dietrich)…they have a fast car and so do we.”

“If we would have went another five laps I guess Lance would have been there. It would have been interesting because I was going to move down in turns one and two and I can’t image the bottom in three and four was where he wanted to be, where he was (on the last turns to the checkered), whatever though, that was impressive. I’m just glad to be standing here.”

To be precise, it took eight minutes 9.953 seconds to complete 30 laps. Every driver finished. It all came down to the final turns.

Outside front-row starter Chad Trout got the jump on pole-sitting Dietrich and led the charge for the first nine laps. Trout even fought off a Dietrich slider in turns three and four on lap eight to hang on to the top spot.

“I don’t like leading, I just wanted to feel it out,” said Dietrich on Trout getting the lead at the drop of the green to the 30-lap feature. “He just got around me and I thought I’d just let him go and keep him within reach.”

“Lapped traffic was going to come into play. We weren’t set up for the start. We were set up for the end of the race.”

But the lapped traffic came into play starting on the fifth lap allowing Dietrich to close the gap and eventually nipped Trout at the line to complete the 10th lap as the new leader.

Dietrich took charge at that point and was flying through lapped traffic and had opened up a four second lead after 20 laps were in the books.

All eyes began watching behind Dietrich the final 10 laps as fifth-starting Dewease was making his charge to the front with 10th-starting Brian Montieth in tow.

Dewease and Montieth were closing the gap fast the final five laps but it appeared that Dewease was going to run out of time.

Then on the final lap it appeared Dietrich got loose off the second turn. Dewease closed quickly on Dietrich as they headed up the backstretch and was in position to dive under the leader.

“I could see him in one and two on the bottom there, in the middle, where ever he was there,” said Dietrich on that final lap. “I could damn near see his front wheel.”

“There was rubber on the top of the track and there had to be rubber on the bottom. If I had another lap I would have went to the bottom because I saw Macri get his nose back under me there as I was lapping him. It’s got to be rubbered up. It was rubbered up on entry down there but you couldn’t get off pretty good.

And dive Dewease did.

Everyone stood as the pair raced off the final turns to the checkered. Dietrich had carried more speed through the turns and beat Dewease to the line for a wild non-stop 30-lap, $7,000-to-win Speedweek show.

“I just ran her into three hard,” said Dietrich on the final turns to the checkered. “I knew the slider was coming. I just had to beat him to the apex…that’s what it all came down to.”

Dietrich summed it up perfectly in the end, “That’s an exciting race.”

The win was Dietrich’s third of the year, and the 41st of his career at Lincoln Speedway. It was also his seventh career Pennsylvania Speedweek victory.

Sprint heats were won by Dietrich, Freddie Rahmer, Dewease, and Jim Siegel, with Robbie Kendall winning the consolation. Fast time in time trials for the 39-car 410 Sprint field was set by Wolfe with a one-lap time of 14.149-seconds (95.413 MPH).

Travis Perry inherited the lead on the 18th lap when race-long leader Mason Chaney suddenly stopped in the fourth turn with mechanical problems.

In a one-lap shootout for the win, Perry remained in control as Jeremy Ott settled for a close second. Bill Diehl was third, Travis McClelland fourth, and Scott Haudeshell fifth. Completing the top-10 were Zachary Settle, Blaine Leppo, Brent Marquis, John Kooti, and Alex Schmeidel.

Heats for the 41 Central PA Legends on hand were won by Harlon Leppo, Haudeshell, Chaney, and Perry, with Rick Hartwig and Donnie Leiby winning twin consolations.

Lincoln Speedway swings right back into action Monday night, July 2nd, with its’ second PA Speedweek show. Race 4 of the 10 race Speedweek series for the 410 sprints will once again pay $7,000 to the winner. The super sportsman will round out the Monday night special 4th of July holiday week show. Competition Pit gates will open at 5 PM, Spectator Pit Admission & General Admission gates will open at 5:30 PM. Hot laps will get underway at 7 PM, with time trials getting underway at 7:30 PM.

To get all the latest news, results, schedule changes and rule changes, visit Lincoln Speedway’s website at http://www.lincolnspeedway.com to stay up-to-date on all the action or pending weather conditions at Central Pennsylvania’s “Premier” Saturday night race track – The Fabulous Lincoln Speedway.